Thanks guys
If I use a chisel to form wood and I use this chisel by hand, the edge shall hold around 20 - 25 degree for normal work. When I make fine work, my chisel edge can hold 10-15 degrees. If I use a hammer on the chisel the edge need to be 30-35 degrees to hold for the impact.
Edges on knifes works after the same principle. All edges do.
My grandfather open bellys on games with his knife, my father open letters with his knifes - and I open emails... Life have changes fast - and traditional knife knowledge are more or less forgotten today. This has happened during my lifetime.
Today 90% of all people in the industrial world lives in city's and they use knifes to the modern materials there is in the city life. Few city people skin or butcher games, filè fish or whittle things for the house hold today...
Knife producers read opinions on forums like this forum and produce knifes that are attractive for forum members - and around 99 % of the forums members lives in city's... Today's knifes are a result of that 90 % of the Byers lives in city's...
There is nothing wrong with that - but today's knifes are produced for city people and their needs - not for traditional needs.
I think this is important to understand when you are interested of knifes. Today we have two different development ways, the city people way and the tractionalist way.
The traditional way do not change much I think, it is more the steel quality that change - and the consequence of that can make small changes of the design. Most traditionals do not like the new hard steel - it do not function outdoors. (But city people love it. It works good in cardboard and in most city material). So - today most knifes are produced in hard steel because the market is city people.
Traditionals mostly make their own knifes and by blades in traditional "softer" steel qualitys - at least here in Scandinavia.
If this sounds like complain - it is not. My English is as it is... I am just trying to say that knifes have been developed in hundred of thousands of years and they have always be designed from use. This is still going on - but today in two different ways - and the traditional way, design from use, are soon forgotten if we don't take care of all old knife knowledge.
Thomas
